This is made possible thanks to an exceptionally strong and light transparent material Atlanteans fashion into helmets to enable people to work underwater. The team eventually uses the levity of these spheres to escape to the surface. Headley elopes with the daughter of Manda, leader of the Atlanteans. In the later part of the novel, Headley describes the encounter with the Lord of the Dark Face, a supernatural being who led the Atlanteans to their doom and was the cause of untold miseries to humanity ever since. This being is likened to the Phoenician god Baal who was demonized by later religions and cultures. The being is defeated by Prof. Maracot who becomes possessed by the spirit of Warda, the man who managed to convince a handful of Atlanteans to prepare for the worst and thus built an Ark which saved them from the cataclysm which destroyed their land. Features of the novel Although a short novel, it provides interesting glimpses into the belief regarding the sea during the early 20th century and particularly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own beliefs and outlooks. The dramatic end mentioned at the end of the novel, the fight between the ultimate Good and Evil reveals the deep spiritual nature which Conan Doyle had developed in his later years. Whereas the adventures of Sherlock Holmes show the keen analytical side of Sir Arthur, novels like The Maracot Deep show that he seriously took to spiritualism in his later years. It is not marked by any particular religion though there are strong Christian and Hellenistic undertones. See also The City in the Sea, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe References 1929 British novels Novels by Arthur Conan Doyle 1929 fantasy novels 1929 science fiction novels British adventure novels British fantasy novels Scottish science fiction novels Atlantis in fiction Underwater novels Underwater civilizations in fiction Novels set in the Atlantic Ocean John Murray (publishing house) books